Proof: Finding Freedom through the Intoxicating Joy of Irresistible Grace
It’s time to open your eyes to the freeing power of authentic grace—grace that releases us from trying to earn God's favor, grace that enables us to rest in the finished work of Christ, grace that liberates from the tyranny of trying to please others.
That's what the theology of Martin Luther and John Calvin did in their own day for the people around them. Time magazine recently dubbed Calvinism as one of the top ten ideas changing the world right now. And yet most of these discussions center on the issue of predestination or on whether particular people agree with the five points of Calvinism. Daniel Montgomery and Timothy Paul Jones think it's time to rescue the theology of the Reformers from such stale scholasticizing and to declare anew the dangerous and intoxicating joy of the gospel that theyproclaimed.
PROOF stands for planned grace, resurrecting grace, outrageous grace, overcoming grace, and forever grace. The authors offer proof of God’s grace upon which people can stand against the attacks of legalism that have led many of God's people to lose sight of the freedom and joy of the gospel. And this proof is intoxicating—it’s like a 200-proof drink that will leave you spiritually staggering at its effect on your life. God’s grace not only declares us “not guilty!” in his presence, it changes our relationship with God—forever.?
Introduction: The Dangerous Delight of Divine Grace
Human hopes falter and fail. Asked to tell a story in only six words, one novelist responded with these words: “For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.” Human hopes can fall to pieces. But here is a beautiful bit of good news when we consider how often our plans can fall apart: This never happens to God. God knows all things, past, present, and future–so nothing happens that he cannot predict. God is powerful above and beyond all things–so no challenge ever arises that he can’t stop. That’s good news for believers in Jesus Christ.
If you’ve trusted Jesus, it’s not because you planned out your life in your fleeting and faulty wis-dom. It’s because God set his heart on you from eternity past; God made this choice knowing eve-rything about you–past, present, and future! As a result, nothing can change his choice to pour out his grace on you. Not your sin. Not your fears. Not the darkness that gnaws at your heart that no one else knows about. Nothing in your future. Nothing in your past. Nothing in all creation can sep-arate you from God’s love. Nothing. God proved his love for you once and for all through the cross of Jesus and the empty tomb–and nothing can change that determination to save you by his grace. His grace was…
PLANNED from all eternity, knowing that he would
RESURRECT your lifeless soul to lavish grace into your life that is
OUTRAGEOUS because it doesn’t depend on what you’ve done and
OVERCOMING because it transforms your desires so that you long for Jesus. Because this grace depends on what God has already determined and done, it lasts
FOREVER.
Together, that spells “PROOF,” which is precisely what God has provided in Jesus and poured out into our lives through the gospel: Proof of grace that will never let us go because it never depended on us in the first place; it depends instead on a God who is greater than anything we could ask or imagine.
Chapter One: Planned Grace
Chapter Two: Resurrecting Grace
Chapter Three: Outrageous Grace
Chapter Four: Overcoming Grace
Chapter Five: Forever Grace
Chapter Six: PROOF in Action
Conclusion: The Beautiful Paradox
Product Details
- Title : PROOF: Finding Freedom through the Intoxicating Joy of Irresistible Grace
- Authors:
- Montgomery, Daniel
- Jones, Timothy Paul
- Publisher: Zondervan
- Publication Date: 2014
- ISBN: 9780310513902
Reviews
1 rating
Patrick
1/19/2022
This book does a great job of introducing the topic of irresistible grace and certain other points of Reformed theology. While it is a good introductory book, it is by no means short on details or explanation. Irresistible grace is essentially that God grants saving grace to His elect and His elect overcome their resistance to God and come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. While some books on the topic might get too headstrong into the use of Latin or sound too much like systematic theology, the authors of this book do a good job of relating concepts on the subject without the lofty language or the dumbing down of concepts. The authors also provide person stories and examples to help in understanding concepts. There are even a few tear jerking stories that really highlight just how much bigger God's corresponding work is amazing. I would highly recommend this book for those wishing to know more on the subject, looking into Calvinism, or getting into Reformed theology. Final Grade - A